Adele Gilani
| birth_place = Frankfort, Kentucky, US | nationality = USA | occupation = Painter, Printmaker, and Designer | known_for = Abstract and figurative paintings about spirituality, pop culture and vegan lifestyle | education = Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking | alma_mater = University of Kentucky | spouse = Hussain Gilani | residence = Oakland, California | website = }} Adele Gilani (born 1983) is an American born painter, printmaker, and designer specializing in abstract pieces and exploring spirituality, pop culture and veganism in her work. Gilani creates colorful compositions on canvas and in print. Betty Adele White was born on February 4, 1983 in Frankfort, Kentucky as the first of two daughters to David Keith White (of Scots- Irish and American Indian descent) and Robbin Terri (née Evans, of African American and English descent). Life and work background A year after her parents divorce, at age 11 (1994) Gilani discovered her mother brutally beaten and stabbed to death on the bedroom floor of the family home. on her influences, Gliani recalls the film Labyrinth, the mysterious woods behind her memaw’s house in Frankfort Kentucky, Burning Man culture, SARK, Kanye West lyrics, Alan Watts, the giant redwoods in Northern California, her time spent at Omega. In 2014, Gilani began a relationship with politically driven doctor Hussain Gilani. In April 2017 Adele White married Hussain Gilani in a Berkeley ceremony that was covered by the New York Times Wedding Section. They reside together in Oakland, California with their dog, Pancho. Career Adele studied sculpture, printmaking, painting and drawing at the University of Kentucky. In 2005 Gilani participated in a National Student Exchange program and studied stone lithography, advanced painting with Leslie Price as well as fictional writing under Jim Dodge at Humboldt State University. Gilani’s artwork was primarily black and white at this time with the occasional grey ink wash. Gilani focussed on composition, the illusion of separation and chaos. An example of this work would be her early drawings where the buildings and characters are the same size and the faces on the characters are grotesque. In (2009) Gilani came back to Lexington Kentucky for a short stint and participated in an underground artist collective called “the Burrow Society” that focussed on guerrilla art. During this era, Adele’s work dealt with monsters and adult themes acted out by childlike characters. The painting, “Color Me Bad Ultralights” is a painting of pastel colored cigarettes in childlike packaging, almost like a crayon box. Another painting that describes this Era is, “Griffin,” a large scale painting scratched out like a child’s crayon drawing. Adele moved to San Francisco to help with a friend’s Burning Man Art car in August 2009. Gilani took her first design job with San Francisco Firefighters Local 798. In 2010 Gilani began hosting live figure drawing events with her friend Josh Cohen under the name Dell and Philly as well as the Cultivation Collective. Exhibitions *2016 Artspan’s Art in Neighborhoods Program, Mission Bowling, San Francisco *2016 City Art gallery, San Francisco *2016 “ICONS” Juried Show, San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco *2016 Solo exhibition, Galvanize, San Francisco *2016 Alumni Show, University of Kentucky *2012 “Dia de los Muertos” Juried Show, Living Arts and Science Center *2008 Solo exhibition, Third Street Stuff & Coffee *2006 “Fresh Liquor,” solo exhibition, Fresh Liquor, Kentucky References Category:Living people Category:1983 births Category:Abstract painters Category:Painters from Kentucky